Publication
The role of emotions in the reconciliation process: the case of palestinians in the conflict with Israel
| Summary: | Building on the “emotional turn” in International Relations (IR), this dissertation explores how emotions, specifically hope and disappointment, shape the reconciliation process between Palestinians and Israelis in the context of an ongoing intractable conflict. The attacks of October 7, 2023, and the war in Gaza have exacerbated the conflict ethos, which provides the dominant psychological orientation of societies during intractable conflicts. The existence of this ethos fundamentally challenges any prospect for peace and reconciliation. Yet reconciliation should not be seen solely as a post-conflict process following formal agreements. This dissertation argues that reconciliation must be understood as a long-term, psychologically transformative process that begins before violence ceases, whether that violence is direct, structural, or cultural. Despite the sequence of the attacks of October 7, reconciliation efforts persist. We focus on Palestinian peacemakers to demonstrate the complex interplay between hope and disappointment and how they transform their disappointed hopes into persistent hopes. While disappointment is often overlooked or treated as politically disabling in the literature, we contribute to the growing body of literature demonstrating that disappointment, despite comprising a negative feeling, does not inevitably lead to apathy and resignation. Disappointment can also catalyze reflection, adaptation, and renewed commitment. Throughout the dissertation, we used an emotion discourse analysis approach and drew on a range of narrative materials, including interviews, public testimonies, and personal reflections on Palestinian peacemakers’ experiences. Our analysis is based on three evolving forms of hope, namely disappointed hope, persistent hope, and educated hope, and it analyzes Palestinian peacemakers’ articulation in response to three events: the Oslo Accords, the construction of the Separation Wall, the attacks of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. Each represents a distinct kind of disjuncture – a rupture of people’s sense of time, place, and being – in regard to the reconciliation process. Our findings challenge linear models of reconciliation and argue that Palestinian peacemakers’ turn to persistent hope in the face of disappointment can sustain reconciliation efforts even in the absence of formal agreements and while the conflict is unfolding. Ultimately, we show that reconciliation is both possible and necessary even during times of conflict, and that emotions, instead of being peripheral, are at the center of political agency in asymmetrical and intractable conflicts. |
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| Main Authors: | Jesus, Letícia Teixeira de |
| Subject: | Emotions Reconciliation Israel-Palestine Disappointment Hope Disappointed hope Agency Emoções Reconciliação Israel-Palestina Desapontamento Esperança Esperança desapontada Ciências Sociais::Outras Ciências Sociais |
| Year: | 2025 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | master thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade do Minho |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Summary: | Building on the “emotional turn” in International Relations (IR), this dissertation explores how emotions, specifically hope and disappointment, shape the reconciliation process between Palestinians and Israelis in the context of an ongoing intractable conflict. The attacks of October 7, 2023, and the war in Gaza have exacerbated the conflict ethos, which provides the dominant psychological orientation of societies during intractable conflicts. The existence of this ethos fundamentally challenges any prospect for peace and reconciliation. Yet reconciliation should not be seen solely as a post-conflict process following formal agreements. This dissertation argues that reconciliation must be understood as a long-term, psychologically transformative process that begins before violence ceases, whether that violence is direct, structural, or cultural. Despite the sequence of the attacks of October 7, reconciliation efforts persist. We focus on Palestinian peacemakers to demonstrate the complex interplay between hope and disappointment and how they transform their disappointed hopes into persistent hopes. While disappointment is often overlooked or treated as politically disabling in the literature, we contribute to the growing body of literature demonstrating that disappointment, despite comprising a negative feeling, does not inevitably lead to apathy and resignation. Disappointment can also catalyze reflection, adaptation, and renewed commitment. Throughout the dissertation, we used an emotion discourse analysis approach and drew on a range of narrative materials, including interviews, public testimonies, and personal reflections on Palestinian peacemakers’ experiences. Our analysis is based on three evolving forms of hope, namely disappointed hope, persistent hope, and educated hope, and it analyzes Palestinian peacemakers’ articulation in response to three events: the Oslo Accords, the construction of the Separation Wall, the attacks of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. Each represents a distinct kind of disjuncture – a rupture of people’s sense of time, place, and being – in regard to the reconciliation process. Our findings challenge linear models of reconciliation and argue that Palestinian peacemakers’ turn to persistent hope in the face of disappointment can sustain reconciliation efforts even in the absence of formal agreements and while the conflict is unfolding. Ultimately, we show that reconciliation is both possible and necessary even during times of conflict, and that emotions, instead of being peripheral, are at the center of political agency in asymmetrical and intractable conflicts. |
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